Living in London; Traveling and Eating Everywhere

St. John Bread and Wine, Spitalfields

An old friend who used to live in London and now lives in Hong Kong was back in town last week, and he wanted to eat pig products, English-style. Obviously, that meant St. John Restaurant. Sadly, the Restaurant had no available tables on my friend’s only free evening, but its more casual sibling, St. John Bread and Wine, did, so off we went last Tuesday night.

Our chatty party of five felt right at home in the spare, high-ceilinged space, which buzzed with noise and good cheer. Like the slightly-fancier St. John Restaurant, SJB&W turned out to be a fun place to meet friends (and it follows that it’s a not-so-fun place for a romantic night out).

There were about 20 small plates and three larger “mains” on the menu and blackboard. Feeling hungry, we ordered eight small plates and two of the “mains.” The menu, it turns out, is a masterpiece of understatement, because most dishes turned out to be much more wonderful than their one- or two-word descriptions would suggest. For example, one of our party, perhaps feeling guilty about the meat-fest to come, ordered the menu item listed as “salad.” It sounded like a throwaway item to me, but the salad turned out to be so crisp and beautifully-dressed that at the end of our meal, some of our group still mentioned it fondly.

whole crab and mayonnaise (£11)

My favorites of the evening were the whole crab and mayonnaise (pictured above) and the foie gras & duck liver toast (pictured below). In the first dish, the claw meat was sweet and firm, and the crab’s brown meat was decadently creamy and rich (the foie gras of the sea, anyone?). As if the crab weren’t good enough on its own, the zippy mayonnaise was so tasty that when I ran out of crab, I just slathered it on slices of bread.

foie gras & duck liver toast (£6.70)

As St. John is the place to eat if you like offal, it was no surprise that the foie gras & duck liver on toast was excellent (though not sure what’s up with the redundant name . . . presumably the foie gras was of the goose liver variety?). Hot, crisp bread smeared with a fragrant, rich liver. Simple is great.

Speckled Face mutton & carrots (£27 for two people)

The Speckled Face mutton was braised lamb meat at its fall-off-the-bone best, but at £27 for two, I wouldn’t have ordered it if I’d had exclusive control over the ordering at our table (a girl can dream . . . ). I think my braises at home are just as good, really. Same goes for SJB&W’s Cobb chicken & griolles (£13.90).

Bobby beans & duck egg (£5.90)

Two disappointments were the Bobby beans & duck egg (above) and the Stinking Bishop & Potatoes (below). The beans were pretty dull and could have used a dressing with, say, more vinegar and anchovy for a kick that would complement the creamy egg yolks.

Stinking Bishop cheese & potatoes (£12)

As for the Stinking Bishop – I wished the cheese had tasted as strong as it smelled. But in fact, the beautifully-named cheese was too mild to be paired with the mild potatoes (however sweet and creamy those potatoes were). The raw scallion didn’t rescue matters

Blood cake, prunes and bacon were a tasty-though-gelatinous accompaniment to the yummy breads, and the Lamb, Bread & Green sauce was a forgettable plate of meat-n-mint.

With £60 worth of wine and service, our tab came to £40 per person. Having enjoyed the vibe, food and service at SJB&W, I will definitely be back, but the next time I go, I’m going to order a lot fewer dishes in order to save room for dessert. I have, after all, heard nothing but rave reviews of the fresh-baked Madeleines . . . .

Dang…here in DC, the closest I get to St. John is the stuff I make myself from “Beyond Nose To Tail.” The trotter gear takes a fair bit of time to make (and finding the proper kind of Madeira was a bit of a hassle), but it elevates any braise to a level that even the best veal stock could only dream of.

Stinking Bishop on it’s own (or with the right wine or ale…or cider, even, as it is made using pear juice) is awesomeness, at least for me (I don’t think Julie agrees with me on that one).

Lizzie – yes, based on my one visit to SJB&W, I’d stick with the small plates and skip the two or three “mains” on the menu.

tim – yes, indeed. We ordered too many dishes (estimating 2.5 small plates per person) and didn’t have enough room for desserts, which I understand is a major bummer.

Mr Noodles – I think of blood pudding as a sausage, whereas this “blood cake” was more like a rich, thickened sauce filled with meaty bits (i.e., it all kind of mixed together so I turned it into a topping for my bread).

Banhmi11 – Pate and Madeleines is definitely a winning combination. And congrats on your shoutout by TimeOut. I’m due for another banh mi fix. : )

Edwin – I, too, have made that trotter gear, and while it took a freaking long time and made a freaking huge mess, we still have masses of it in our freezer, and you’re right – it’s a genius addition to braises and chilis. And I am normally a fan of Stinking Bishop, but the version we had at SJB&W was just inexplicably wimpy tasting.

Like Lizzie, I’ve only been to the main St John (we went together!), but I also like to be able to try more dishes in a group than have the traditional 2 or 3 large courses. I like the sound of Speckle Faced Mutton!

Hi Helen – I just re-read your post on St. John Restaurant and it sounds like it was a fun event. I went there for dinner with friends almost four years ago and remember thinking my slab of Middlewhite was pricey for such a simply-prepared (though well-sourced item). I guess that’s how I felt at SJB&W, too, with regards to the mains (like the Speckle Faced mutton dish).

The small plates seemed more interesting than the big ones, so I’m looking forward to returning to SJB&W for more of the little bites (and the much-vaunted desserts).

How would you compare St Johns bread and wine to St John’s proper – or do you think that they are different restaurants for different occasions depending on how formal you want to be? (Not that St John’s is that formal!)

Great question, and with the major caveat that I went to St. John’s Restaurant almost four years ago (i.e., long before the recent refurbishment), I’d say it came down to furniture and the number of small plates available.

At the Restaurant, the tables/furniture were slightly nicer than at Bread & Wine, and the ratio of small plates to big plates was more even at the Restaurant than it was at Bread & Wine.

The prices were similar at both places, but the menu at the Restaurant is structured so that you’re encouraged to get a starter and main, rather than to share lots of starter-sized plates, so I think that’s why you’d spend more at the Restaurant than at Bread & Wine.

Oh man, I’ve done the same thing with the mayo at that restaurant. Great review and makes me want to be back in London for one night! If you’re ever there and they have the chickpea stew with snails, that’s a mighty tasty treat. Cheers.

Just went to the restaurant in the St. John hotel in leicester square and thought it was incredible. Ate snails, duck heart and lovage to start which was beautiful. I love the philosophy of St. John..nothing seems to go to waste!

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